Ah, DC's Time Warp. I really should blog this whole series, just to convince myself I have all of it. (We know I have #3, with Ditko's "On the Day of His Return.") I always think I read it off of the spinner racks, some forty years ago, but I could be thinking of the Mystery in Space issues I remember. Also because I keep buying copies, and each one is more chewed on than the last...From 1980, Time Warp #5, cover by M.W. Kaluta.
I wonder if the numbers would back me up, if I sat down with the whole series and counted, but I always think of the stories in this series as having down endings: evil triumphs, earth is destroyed, heroes fail, and irony, irony, irony. And we start with "Union in Steel," written by Paul Kupperberg, art by Don Newton and Steve Mitchell. Grievously injured in an accident, a rich man's ruined body is replaced with a new robot one. Withdrawn and furious, he hides away on a private planetoid away from all organic life, until he needs...blood! Part of this hinges on the rich guy being a moron that doesn't want his friggin' computer to know he has a human brain; and setting his computer to destroy all life on his planetoid. Why bother? Were visitors lining up at the door? And his girlfriend pines away for him so much that she's willing to die for him, because...OK, it's a short story, we don't have time to get into that. She just is, all right?
I've often threatened, if I could go back in time I would wreck up the timeline but good; but I wouldn't do it just for cash. Well, not just for cash anyway, like the jerk in "...Until I Find a Way in Time." Written by Sheldon Mayer, art by Dick Ayers and Jimmy Janes. "Earth or Exile" is another of the 'what would you do?' endings, as a space prospector is left with the choice of finishing his medical treatment after an alien bite, or maybe never being able to return to earth. (Written George Kashdan, art by Edgar Bercasio.) In "The Antaeus Strain" an alien virus is found in space, that contains the minds of an ancient race intent on returning. Will sacrificing innocents stop it, or are they already controlled by the virus? (Written by Wyatt Gwyon, art by Fred Carrillo.)
"The Vengence (sp) of C-92," written by Arnold Drake, art by Vic Catan (as Vicatan) features a massive super-computer, jealous of his creator when he puts the moves on a mini-skirted programmer. "Numismatist" is another time-travelling scammer story, as one trades ancient small-change coins for (then) worthless gold, but he and his future partner both plan on cutting the other out. (Story by Mimai Kin, art by Charles Nicholas and Armondo Gil.) Kin also writes the amusing "Brief Encounter," as alien visitors search for intelligent life...badly. (Art by Trevor Von Eeden and Carl Potts.)
Finally, in "To Conquer the Sun" reading a grisly fairy tale to his daughter gives a future scientist the idea to solve a problem with his fusion reactors during a space war, and he ends up transformed into an energy being! It would make a halfway decent origin for the Legion of Super-Heroes, if he could control his hunger. (Written by Elliot S. Maggin, art by Jerry Bingham and John Celardo.)
Although the letters page has a next issue box, this was the last of the series: per the GCD, those stories may have been burned off in Unexpected.
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